Residents dig deep for new lake walkway

TEAM EFFORT: From left, Brian Law, James Blakely, Katharine Oliver, Mike Goodwin and Sandra Goodwin are digging out a walkway to link Boyes Beach to the Lake Okareka campsite. PHOTO/BRIDIE WITTON

Lake Okareka residents have been hard at work hand-digging a walking track linking Boyes Beach to the Lake Okareka campsite though the Lake Okareka Scenic Reserve.

Members of the Lake Okareka Community Association (LOCA) and Landcare Okareka have been meeting once a week and on the first Saturday of every month since October last year to complete the impressive feat, and have already dug about 800m.

When finished, the track will be 1500m long, metalled with timber edging and wide enough to suit prams, wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

The track is an extension of the Lake Okareka walkway and will feature a boardwalk through the wetlands, an area under threat from rats, possums, and wallabies.

The estimated cost for the project is $150,000.

Sandra Goodwin from LOCA said the project was a big one, and was centred on conservation.

"It's going to take us a whole lot of work, it is a big project. The idea is to link the whole way around.

"It has taken five years to get to where we are now, going through consultations and resource consents."

Mrs Goodwin said she was beginning to make funding applications for the project.

"We have had plans drawn up for the bridging and the boardwalks to DoC standards.

"Most people are doing it because they want to be able to walk it, also because it's going to give them access to the weed and pest control.

"We have a very important wetland with a native fish and bird population."

Mike Goodwin from LOCA said he was not sure when the project might be finished.

"It will take as long as it takes. What we are doing now is the hard ground stuff.

"We go through with a motorised hedge clipper then dig out the duff until we get to the dirt," he said.

Mrs Goodwin said the wetlands were an important spot for Rotorua.

"It is really important and special. Lots of native birds live there including the dab chick which is rarer than kiwi."